There has been a lot of talk about the recent hacking activity that has plagued many large corporations, governments, and individuals. The group claiming responsibility for these undertakings is a group called Anonymous.  The group is not a typical hierarchical organization, but a group of ‘equals’ that is attempting to end corruption around the globe through transparency. Recently, they have exposed corporations such as Startfor, and have set up platforms for the Iranian people to criticize their government safely.  I give these two examples to display the depth of their activity, but this comes nowhere near the entirety of their feats.  They have worked with groups such as WikiLeaks, and have been involved with grass roots movements such as Occupy Wall Street.

Many people are quick to condemn Anonymous, but we should give the group another look.  In the past, some governments and big money have been able to move in silence without fear of retribution for their bad deeds.  Information was kept on paper work, and as long as that paper remained in a vault or burnt, the data remained completely hidden from the public.  The media has reported on many incidents, but the reporting has been slanted in order to satisfy their political views and supporters.  Many incidents have been kept behind a veil, and brushed aside as “conspiracy theories” or mere rumors.

Today, we have computers and the internet.  Computers have made things a lot easier.  People can now write, edit, save and reproduce vast amounts of information.  That information can now be sent anywhere almost intently because of the internet.  However, there is a drawback.  Information that is stored on a computer and connected to the internet is accessible.  The information might be protected, but like any defense there is a weakness.

Anonymous happens to be a group that is extremely good at finding these weaknesses and exposing the information that is being protected.  Now, this is where people begin finding problems with Anonymous.   The groups that anonymous targets are usually organizations that are trying to keep ‘sensitive’ information hidden.  Therefore, the illegal means that Anonymous uses in order to acquire their ends usually stirs up a lot of attention and causes a lot of people to hate them.  However, it also causes a lot of people to love Anonymous, because they are exposing knowledge and revealing the truth about they invest and trust in.

Some people hate them, and some people love Anonymous;  just as, some people hate transparency, and some people love it.   We are now able to see behind veils that were once almost impenetrable, and the inner workings of government and corporate organizations are being exposed like the inner working of a grandfather clock.

I often take for granted the amount of free speech I posses, which is guaranteed by the United States Constitution.  Our media within the country might, or tends to be (however you want to look at it), tainted.  However, we have alternative media sources such as: twitter, livestream, blogs, and etc.  We are able to read these sources, and we are also able to contribute to these sources without fear of repercussions (for the most part).

Part Two of Doctorow’s book For The Win allowed me to imagine the complications of overseas protesting.  A character within his book named Nor, and nicknamed Big Sister, attempts to change the status quo.  Her textile factory in Singapore receives a large request, but the bosses refuse to give the employees a bonus despite the extra money flowing into the company.  Therefore, Nor decides that she has had enough, and begins to demand better treatment by standing on table during work, and verbally slamming the corporate personnel of the company.  She feared retribution, but the other woman rallied alongside her and protected her.  The book transition quickly to a horrible display of police force against woman fighting for their rights.  They are gassed, and repressed.  The factory women’s union, Mute, attempts to help them.  However, their attempts to receive more pay are futile, because the factory shuts down and moves to Indonesia.  Furthermore, the women in charge of organizing the protest through the union are sought out and beaten horribly by the factories police.

The images brought forth by Doctorow are unsettling.  Similar events occur throughout the world, even though the events within the book are fiction.  We see oppressive tactics performed by government officials around the world when people take to the street and protest for their rights.  It is currently happening.  We only have to turn on the news, and we see protest and violent consequences to that protesting all around the globe.  From the Arab World to Europe, to Asia, to Latin America, and even here in the United States.

Today there are Occupy Wall Street protest and actions taking place all around the United States.  The Occupiers have occupied space legally, mostly, have continued to protest in the streets, and make noise for their cause, which is quite similar to Nor’s cause within For the Win.  We are quick to denounce leaders in other countries for their oppressive tactics.  However, when are we going to wake up and begin to oppose the unjust treatment of our fellow citizen?  Check out this video, and see what happens for yourself…

Creating a podcast has been very difficult for me, to say the least.  It has been difficult on many different levels: finding relevant data, collaborators, creating the site, and editing.

I attempted to cover the Occupy Wall Street movement in Los Angeles, and had a hard time finding sources that covered the entire movement.  There were newspaper articles that covered specific important dates, but left the day-to-day Occupy grind out of the picture.  Therefore, I used the OWS LA calender (which was accurate and detailed) to make a detailed list of the occupy protest in and around the downtown Los Angeles area. Furthermore, I highlighted specific important dates in order to let my readers see the OWS LA progress.

Finding people to interview was not a problem while I was at the OWS LA site.  However, trying to contact someone of authority to interview was very difficult, because the group does not have an authority and renders people equal.  Therefore, I had to change my vocabulary and ask “Who is an avid organizer?” I then got some answers, but getting a hold of people was very tough.

Creating the website to host my podcast was difficult for two reasons: uploading the content and getting the content to play.  I used GarageBand to create my project.  The program saves the information as an .aac, which cannot be uploaded (as far as I know) to a website.  However, I found that that GarageBand has a built in MP3 encoder, and I converted my project easily to that format.  Once it was MP3 I had to find a MP3 player to embed in the site, and play the information.  I created my own HTML player in DreamWeaver at first, but then opted to listen to one of my peers, and I embedded a Yahoo player within my site that looks and works better.

Editing is just editing.  Editing thirty minutes of media took hours.  I guess that’s just something that comes with the trade.

Walking around the downtown OWSLA site was interesting.  I love Los Angeles, so I enjoyed being in the city.  I met a lot of people, and had some good conversations.  The only issue is that I used a poor recording device, and the most important information I gathered was useless.  I was very disappointing that my first attempt to gather information was a waste, but at least I get to go back.  Maybe I’ll see and learn something that I didn’t see before, and have even better content for my podcast.

Doctorow’s book For the Win gives an insightful look into the world of modern gaming.  Throughout the book the reader is thrown into a whole world of World of Warcraft jargon, and the techniques behind winning/leveling up in the game.  The first part of the book includes a story about an American child who wants to level up in within the game, but cannot do it on his own.  Therefore, he contracts “raiders” to help him level up, and achieve a higher rank within the game.  However, those are the technical aspect of the game.  The gaming side of the book is very interesting and the focus of the book, but I saw something else within the text that was quite interesting and, at face value, amazing.

There is a conversation as follows within the game:

“You’re not in China, are you?” the gweilo asked.

“Not exactly,” he said, looking out the window at the sky over Orange County, the most boring ZIP code in California.

“Where are you guys?”

“They’re in China. Where I live, you can see the Disneyland fireworks show every night.”

“Goddamn,” the gweilo said. “Ain’t you got better things to do than help some idiot level up in the middle of the night?”

“I guess I don’t,” he said. Mixed in behind were the guys laughing and catcalling in Chinese on their channel. He grinned to hear them.

“I mean, hell, I can see why someone in China’d do a crappy job for a rotten 75 bucks, but if you’re in America, dude, you should have some pride, get some real work!”

“And why would someone in China want to do a crappy job?” The guys were listening in now. They didn’t have great English, but they spoke enough to get by.

“You know, it’s China. There’s billions of ’em. Poor as dirt and ignorant. I don’t blame ’em. You can’t blame ’em. It’s not their fault. But hell, once you get out of China and get to America, you should act like an American. We don’t do that kind of work.”

“What makes you think I ‘got out of China’?”

“Didn’t you?”

“I was born here. My parents were born here. Their parents were born here. Their parents came here from Russia.”

“I didn’t know they had Chinese in Russia.”

Wei-Dong laughed. “I’m not Chinese, dude.”

“You aren’t? Well, goddamn then, I’m sorry. I figured you were. What are you, then, the boss or something?”

This segment of the book is quite remarkable because it displays an instance of cross cultural contact caused by the gaming world.  Previous to the internet, and gaming, it is quite improbable that children had the ability to communicate globally quite so easily.  Furthermore, the game offers a middle ground of conversation, but also allows each of the children to view the others position and view of the world.

I myself have been an avid player of Star Craft, which is a relative game of World of War Craft.  While playing I have met people from all around the globe, and have been a witness to cross-cultural contact within the gaming world.  I guess, in a way, it has made feel a closer connection or understanding of other people living around globe.  I’ve also been the subject of heavy anti-American criticism, which made me laugh, but also made me think of America in different perspective.

The global gaming arena is an interesting new field in the human experience.  I wonder how far it will go to